New Bedford's Melissa Isidor narrowly misses twin state titles

Sunday

Feb 24, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Coming off two first-place finishes at the Division 1 track qualifiers a week ago, New Bedford's Melissa Isidor set her sights on a double state victory Saturday ... and came tantalizingly close to doing just that.

STAFF REPORT

Coming off two first-place finishes at the Division 1 track qualifiers a week ago, New Bedford's Melissa Isidor set her sights on a double state victory Saturday ... and came tantalizingly close to doing just that.

Isidor placed second in the 55 hurdles, running a season-best time of 8.35, missing out on first by just 0.06 seconds.

She also placed third in the long jump with a career best jump of 17-8¼, missing out on first by one inch.

In both races, she outperformed her pre-race seeding and put in the best performance of her career.

"Melissa ran one of the best races of her life in the 55, but it just wasn't her day to win," New Bedford coach Isaiah Houtman said. "She didn't have the best start, but really picked it up and almost pulled out the state title.

"Add that in with her great long jump, and you're talking about a great day today."

Isidor moves on to the New England regional meet next weekend.

Old Rochester's Ally Saccone also had a very strong day, finishing in third just behind Isidor in the 55 hurdles (8.50) and placing seventh in the long jump (16-6).

Aliyah Alley finished sixth in the 55 dash, setting a Wareham school record with a time of 7.35. Alley also set a school record in the 300, finishing 9th in 42.01.

"For Aliyah to get to the finals and place in the 55 dash that is definitely very impressive for her because she just started that event this year," Wareham coach Chris Gardner said. "She ran very well today, setting a pair of school records is something to be proud of."

On the boys side, Old Rochester's Mike Wyman placed fifth in the 1,000 with a time of 2:33.47 while the 4-by-200 relay team of Colin Knapton, Kevin Noone, Kevin Saccone and Dan Donohue set a new school record with a time of 1:34.37 to finish 14th.

Irvin Johnson placed eighth in the 55 hurdles for New Bedford, running a career-best time 7.87 in the preliminaries before running 7.99 in the finals. "Irvin did everything we asked for him and more today," Houtman said. "He ran a perfect race."

For Dartmouth, Ethan Biron finished ninth in the 300 with a time of 36.08 and was also on the 4x200 relay team with Noah Martins, Evan Davis and Mitchell Loranger that finished 13th (1:34.24). Caitlyn Demers also finished 20th in the 300 (42.93) for the Dartmouth girls.